Courtney Miller is the visionary behind Passion Geeks, a boutique self-care company driven by a desire to help others embrace their true selves.
BY KARIN DAVIS-THOMPSON, Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG — Courtney Miller said self-care wasn’t a concept she learned growing up.
“Growing up, a young Black woman without a lot of money, I didn’t know what self-care was,” she explained. “My mother never really taught me that. She was a single mother raising twins, so as you can imagine, self-care wasn’t at the top of her list.”
As she got older, she said all she knew was hard work.
“If you weren’t working, you were lazy or unmotivated or needed guidance,” Miller said.
But then a trip to Europe changed her life and her perspective. Tired of a job she didn’t love and working with people who didn’t respect or care about her well-being, she was looking for a change.
“I remember watching a minimalist, and it inspired me to start a new journey,” the entrepreneur said.
That journey began with selling all her possessions and buying a one-way ticket to Amsterdam.
“I packed my backpack and traveled through Europe and Spain,” she said.
During that trip, she began to understand what self-care truly meant and why it was so vital.
Each item, from the all-natural body oils and body butters to the invigorating scrubs and waist beads, was crafted with love and intention.
“I met a lot of people that had small businesses — art and passion projects — but they were not sure how to market them,” Miller said. “So, I thought, why not make a space that helps with that?”
And with that, Passion Geeks was born. For Miller, the first order of business was leaning into her passion, creating her own line of skin care products to sell and market. She believed that before she could help others market and sell their passion, she needed to take a leap of faith and sell her own.
“My mission was to sell a product that I was passionate about, so I could ensure that future Passion Geeks I might work with could also sell their products.”
Miller’s product line includes signature body oils, home oils, body scrub, body butter, incense, candles and waist beads she has crafted or discovered, all with the idea of promoting self-care.
“I wanted to help people feel more passionate about themselves,” she stated.
Even though she was initially intimidated to display her product for the public to see and purchase, she decided to give it a try, participating in the Saturday Shoppes, a local vendor market committed to helping small businesses find their audience and promote their products.
Miller said the Saturday Shoppes founder, Renee Edwards-Perry, was a huge inspiration and motivator.
“Renee was the first one to tell me that my products need to be in stores. I was one of the first vendors to be in the Saturday Shoppes,” she explained. “Not only did Saturday Shoppes believe in my business, but I am also now in my very first retail store thanks to her.”
Passion Geeks is one of the minority-owned businesses in the St. Petersburg Chamber store, and when someone buys her product, she hopes it fills them with all the confidence they need to be their authentic selves.
“Accept the permission from us that it is perfectly OK to be authentically yourself and love yourself fully and completely,” Miller said. “Fill your energy cup with positive thinking and forward movement to ensure that the next generation is even better than what we had to endure. If I have impacted just one person, then I did what I was set here to do and I feel completely fulfilled in that.”
Now that she’s had practice selling her products, Miller said she is ready to expand her business to begin helping others sell their products and find their passion.
To learn more about Passion Geeks, visit passiongeeksonline.com. Also, drop by Tropicana Field and Grand Villa Markets to pick up some Love Body Scrub and visit the more than 1,000 vendors as they sell their wares.
Log on to saturdayshoppes.com to view all upcoming market events, but if you can’t wait for next month’s market, Passion Geeks is also available at the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce’s St. Pete Store & Visitors Center at 100 2nd Ave. N, #150.
This story is part of a series highlighting small business owners who are a part of the Saturday Shoppes, an initiative creating economic development and opportunities for small business owners.
